Colours
Colour is a key element of the National Health Service's identity. Research shows that patients and the public strongly associate the NHS with the colours blue and white.
Downloading colours directly into Tableau
Having the NHS England default colours for charts can save time and this can be achieved by having the colour palette installed in 'My Tableau Repository' on your system:
Download .tps file
Download the Preferences.tps file by clicking here
- Download this custom "Preferences.tps"
- Replace your "Preferences.tps" file in your 'My Tableau Repository' which can be found by clicking File > Repository Location
- A number of NHS England specific colour palettes should now appear when using a discrete dimension (e.g regions)
NHS blue and white
87% of people spontaneously recall these two colours - white and NHS blue - when asked about the NHS identity. Therefore, NHS blue and white are the dominant colours in our colour palette. They also ensure that communications maximise the strong value of the NHS identity and the positive attributes that patients, the public and stakeholders attach to it.
You can use other NHS blues to support the main NHS Blue and add tonal variety / emphasis. Use NHS neutral black and grey for type (NHS Blue can also be used). For more information, see the NHS Identity Guidelines - Colours.
NHS regions
Use these colours in boundary maps, or sparingly in charts where it would be useful for identifying the separate regions.
NHS ambulance
Use these colours in maps, or sparingly in charts, wherever it would be useful to identify ambulance trusts.
Chart colours
We recommend to stick to no more than five different variables on a graph. Otherwise your visualisation will be confusing. If you need to plot more than 5 variables, you should consider alternative ways to visualise this information.
For any reasons, if we have to use more than five colours in a visualisation (to show multiple values on the same graph where no measure is more important than another e.g. plotting A&E attendances at different hospitals over time) then use the colours listed below.
Note: This colour palette is not applicable if you are visualising Regional or Ambulance data. Click the hyperlinks to view their colour set.
| One colour chart | #005EB8 | |||||||||||
| Two colour chart | #41B6E6 | |||||||||||
| Three colour chart | #4C6272 | |||||||||||
| Four colour chart | #FFB81C | |||||||||||
| Five colour chart | #AE2573 | |||||||||||
| Six colour chart | #00A499 | |||||||||||
| Seven colour chart | #E317AA | |||||||||||
| Eight colour chart | #007F3B | |||||||||||
| Nine colour chart | #9A6324 | |||||||||||
| Ten colour chart | #78BE20 | |||||||||||
| Eleven colour chart | #ED4F00 | |||||||||||
| Twelve colour chart | #880FB8 |
RAG colours
National Targets (Red - Green)
Purpose: Red - Green should be used when the viz shows whether a national target has been met or not met
Example: A&E performance, Cancer performance
Local Targets (Red - Amber - Green)
Purpose: Red - Amber - Green should be used when the viz shows whether a local target is on track to be met or not met.
Green indicates that a target is on track to be met. Amber indicates that performance needs improvement. Red indicates that a target is not going to be met and intervention is required.
Example: Digital & Interoperable Medicines
Divergence
Purpose: Divergence should be used when there is a wide range of good, bad and neutral areas to be shown and a clear central value (e.g. 0). We can only define the far end colours (e.g. dark red, dark blue) but not the neutral colour in Tableau, it will be selected dynamically.
Example: Map showing of product uptake across England, Difference of year on year comparison
Colour tints for measures
Important factors need to be considered when using tints:
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100% solid NHS blue #005EB8 should always be the dominant colour over any tints
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Tints should never obscure the legibility or accessibility of any communication
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The colour emphasis should always be adhered to when using tints
Continuous scale
For darker and lighter colour values, the in-between colours will be inferred by Tableau automatically. e.g. Continuous scale: 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 etc
Discrete scale
The top bar in each case shows the solid (100%) value of the colour and the bars below show decreasing values from 80% to 20%. It is acceptable to use tints of the colours. Any % value is accepted as long as it is visible, clear and accessible. e.g. Discrete scale: 10, 6, 5, 2 etc
Charts with multiple measures
Below are the set of gradients which should be used if the value of the measure needs to be displayed on the intensity of the colour.
If multiple measures need to be displayed in the visualisation, use the listed colour options below:
Chart with one measure
Chart with two measures
Chart with three measures
Chart with four measures
Chart with five measures
UI specs for visualisation
Size: 10px
Weight: Normal
Colour: Chart colour hex